Forget Destiny For a Moment
by blackpolish
Summary: Katara was searching the Western Air Temple when she came across a strange inscription. So she gets someone else's opinion on the matter. ONESHOT Katara and Zuko pairing.


**I do not own Avatar or any other television show.**

KataraXZuko pairing.

**I tried to make it as what would happen in the show. It's a little sad at the end for Zuko and Katara, but they seem okay. I put in some relationships that I don't like. For example, there is a mention of Sokka and Suki. I don't really like the pairing, but hey, trying to follow show that way I won't be so dissapointed when Zuko and Katara don't get together in the end. **

**You'll see I mention about destinies already been written. Suppose to be like about the show's been written, but the characters don't know that.**

**Oh well, Enjoy!**

The waters dripped from her forehead. She was soaked. Soaked in water, _and sweat_. It was hard to believe that less than a year ago, she did not know anything about training. Nothing about the hard sufferings to get stronger; back then, she did not have to be strong. All she had to do was help do chores around the South pole village. She didn't even have to look cute for any guy. She really was meek back then. Even her voice showed that...Life from that time seemed so far. It was the easiest time of her life. But when she ran into _**him**_, her whole world changed.

Katara stared at the bald monk. Aang. Her best friend. The only person she could tell everything to. She had experienced so much with him. From her first hug from a boy to her first real kiss, Aang had been there for everything. She traveled around the entire world with him. She had seen him grow so much. He had turned into a real guy, who actually cared about her. He had helped her cope with practically all her emotions. He was her first love...Nothing was secret between them...except one thing.

Katara took a giant sigh and walked away from the team's campsite. They had been living in the Western Air Temple for what felt like the longest time. She had grown up in just that time. She learned many things. But she still suffered from one thing. Nothing had changed from the first time she had felt it. Katara couldn't explain it. But during the time, she had become more engulfed into this emotion. The one emotion she had that Aang had no idea about. Because if he did, he would not be happy at all...

Katara cracked her knuckles and used her water-whip to slash off a fruit growing on a tree in the temple. As she went to grab it, she felt a certain feeling rise up inside her. She turned around, but no one was there. _I could swear I felt someone looking at me just then..._ She shook off the feeling and started walking through one of the air temple's buildings. It was dark, cold, and wet. Obviously the hundred years since Air-benders lived here, no one had the common courtesy to come and clean this ancient temple. It was no problem for Katara. She used her water-bending to pull the water from the ground and the walls. She held all the water in the air while walking outside. She peeked her head over the cliff, to make sure Momo or Appa wasn't flying around. katara threw the water all over the side. Little did she know that Sokka was bulking up and climbing the wall.

Katara walked back into the room she had been in, avoiding the screams from her older brother. The sun shone in a little light into the building. Katara turned around to look at the entire architecture of the room. "Woah..." she said in astonishment. "The writings on these walls are so descriptive..." Katara walked around, reading many stories ranging from an ancient Air-bending battle between temples. Some were about war, families and friends, love, floods, famines, there were even stories on how the ancient air-benders dealt with bathing. "Incredible!" Katara laughed in amazement.

Katara then came across a strange marking. It was enclosed in a strange circle..._I don't think it's a circle though_. "I don't even know what that is..." Katara pondered out loud. "A shape? A code? An old letter in those times?"

"It's suppose to be a heart I guess..." someone spoke.

Katara, frightened, turned to see a good friend of hers. The person walked up to her and started feeling the wall with their hands. "I mean I think that's what a heart is..." the person pondered. "I remember when I was little, a friend I knew drew it out in the dirt and well, I tried to figure out what it was, but they said they drew a heart... I can remember everything I see, you know?"

"Yeah but technically you don't really _see_ it..." Katara sighed, sarcastically. " Toph seriously, this doesn't even look like a heart..."

"I don't know! " Toph yelled and just tilted her head and her feet. "The weird line-thingies and the letters crossed in between... seem's like someone wrote a love heart."

Katara scratched her head. "It looks like the letters ' K ' and... Is that a backwards ' S ' ? "

Toph placed her hand over the inscription. "Hm... I can't tell..." The two stared at the wall for a little bit longer. "Oh well, I'm bored... I just came here cause there's nothing else here to do in the boring temple!"

"You could go exploring with the Duke, Haru and--" Katara started to say, but she was interrupted by a familiar, loving voice.

"katara! Toph! Whatcha two doing here in the inscription room?" Aang asked. "Plan to write something down that will last for all eternity?"

"Huh?" Katara gulped. "No, uh, I was looking around and well Toph just joined me..."

"Yeah, but seriously Twinkle-Toes, this is the most boring room I've seen yet... come on! let's train. I've come up with a great new game to play to train you!" Toph started smiling as she pushed Aang out of the room. "Come on Aang! It's time to Dodge the Toph!"

"No! I hate those stupid games you come up with! You always cheat!!" Aang argued as he left the area. Katara couldn't hear any more of the two. She turned slightly back to the inscription. She placed her hand on the wall.

"What could it mean?" she said aloud. Katara finally figured it was useless to stand and ponder on something she will never know nothing about. She sighed and stretched her arms and legs. _Time to get back to training I guess_...

Crunch

_Huh? What the?_ Katara leaned down to the ground. She placed her index and middle finger on the floor. She felt the substance with her thumb and fingers. It was a strange feeling. Hard...yet soft. Silky...yet tough... Then, she felt the feeling. _Someone's watching me..._ Katara glared behind her, only to find Momo tilting his head. She puckered her mouth and rolled her eyes. "Momo... you crazy animal..." she laughed and stood up. She moved toward him, but momo ran away. _Crazy little_..._Huh?_

Katara walked into the sun. She saw her fingertips. They were completely black. _Black? _She brought her fingers to her tiny nose. She took a whiff of her fingers. "Ugh!!"

Holding her breath, Katara water-bended the black substance off of her hands, or at least tried to. "Why won't this stuff come off?!" Katara shouted. "And what's that smell, smoke and sulfur?"

_Wait..._

_Smoke...Sulfur... _

_This is... _

_soot..._

Katara ran back to the inscription and placed her face right into the inscription. _Yep, same smell.._ "This wasn't written with a rock or anything. This was made with...fire-bending." Katara backed up and looked around. _It's that feeling..._

Katara, once again, tried shaking off the feeling she was having. There was something about fire-benders that made her skin crawl. True, she knew only of two that could be considered trustworthy. Those two were Jon-Jon, and that mysterious man named Iroh, the one who let Aang and Katara escape at Ba Sing Se. Those were it. The only two. _I swear the only two!!_

_Well, of course there could be Zuko...But then again, I can't completely trust him..._ Zuko, Aang's fire-bending teacher, had recently joined the group right when the gang got to the Western Air Temple. He had oddly come to the team to join, claiming he had changed. But Katara had trusted him back Ba Sing Se, and he betrayed them. _At least...that's only because he was confused..._

_Wait, no...He did... And even though we grew as friends on our mission together, I still don't know...He did help me... He's okay, I guess... But there's still something about him! I don't like it at all!! _

Katara looked around to see if anyone could see her struggling. Aang didn't know one thing. The one thing that Katara herself wasn't completely convinced of, but yet knew it to be true. Katara had this strange feeling around Zuko... And while she couldn't figure out how much she felt for him, she knew she had some sort of feelings. But what were they? _I don't really love him... I just... ugh! This is so hard to decide. I'm in love with Aang. He had helped me so much, and yet when I think of Zuko..._

A picture formed in her mind of her and Zuko. They were holding each other, and passionately kissing under the moonlight. She was holding onto that dark, messy head of hair. She was feeling down his perfectly formed chiseled abdomen. His breath on her face felt intoxicating. Her lips starting to kiss down his neck. His arms held tightly to her, while her chest pushed onto his body. He smiled as he moved his lips lower and lower from her lips. She groaned out his name. He growled as he held her closer.

_What in the world am I thinking?!_

Katara started breathing deeply. Her body was excreting sweat because of her nervousness of this situation. "What situation?!" Katara laughed trying to avoid her thoughts. "Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine. Perfect. Peachy. ha.. whoo..." Katara walked into section of the temple that was designated to be her room. She lied on her bed, stared into the top of the ceiling, and fell asleep. Except that wasn't the brightest idea.

_Standing on a single pillar, in the middle of a white empty room, was Katara. No one was around her. She was dressed in her old water village clothes, back before she went on her 'save the world' adventure. She was looking around. "Hello!!" she cried. "Where are you?"_

_"I'm right here!!" someone returned her call._

_"Oh! There you are!" She smiled. Katara hugged the mysterious person and placed her head on their shoulder. "You know, I was beginning to worry that you had gone to save the world. You know, the evil prince of the Fire Nation is here. You should leave. Be safe."_

_"I think it's great how you think you need to protect me, but I'm the Avatar," replied the person. "I'm suppose to save the world."_

_"I thought I was your world!" Katara whispered in his ear, seductively. "Oh, come now! Please stay one more minute. Watch the stars for one last second. And take off your cloak. You look like him with it on!"_

_"Very well, if you insist!" the stranger laughed and revealed his identity. "You know, I never thought that I would be able to find such a beautiful girl as you. I love you."_

_"And I love you too Zuko," Katara blushed. She lunged onto him and kissed him. "Now go before Prince Aang returns to kill you."_

_"I'll go, but remember I'll be in your dreams forever..." Zuko spoke softly. "My flames just seem to come to you. Like they lust for you. But I will love you no matter how far I go astray."_

_"As I will love you, my handsome fianc__é__e.." katara sighed as Zuko walked away into the white wall. "I love you..."_

"AHH!!" Katara screamed, awaking from her dream to find herself sweating unbelievably. "Oh my!! AH!!" Katara was breathing harder than before and holding onto her body. Her legs were crossed and her hair was scrambled up into a bun. Her head felt a little dizzy, unable to stay put. "I've gotta go do some training..."

As she got to the river, she jumped right in. _Nothing like a cold river bath to let your worries float away..._ But then Katara felt that feeling of being watched again. But this time, she was in her element. _Nothing like a third time to see if you're feeling things for no reason._ Katara readied herself and calmly put her arms deep into the water. She bended and wrapped her arms in water. After a few seconds, she suddenly slashed a water-whip behind her.

Ker-slap!

"Ow!!" shouted a very angry young man.

"Huh?" Katara turned around to see who she injured. _Stupid freaky watched feeling..._ "Zuko! Are..are you..are you okay? I didn't know it was you, I mean I just felt someone watching me, and well I just assumed it was a fire-bender and--"

"I am a fire-bender though..." he pointed out.

"Oh, well I mean like a bad guy who just chases us and wants to kill Aang and..."

"I use to do those things...You know, Katara do you still not trust me around him? What do I have to do to show you I'm trustworthy? Kiss your feet?" Zuko shouted. He always seemed more convincing when he was yelling.

_So hot..._

_No!! Think straight Katara!!_

"No! What I meant to say was I thought it was someone like Azula or an enemy. You aren't an enemy anymore, Zuko. You are one of my friends," Katara explained, while smiling. _And a person I find great lust for...No no no no no..._

"oh, then I am sorry, for yelling at you I mean, " Zuko apologized, bowed his head and walked closer. "I was merely trying to get some water to drink. I've been training all day."

Katara nodded and let him pass to wash up in the river. As she watched him clean up, she noticed something odd. On his arm, there was...

"Is that rubble on your sleeve?" Katara questioned.

"Huh?" Zuko gulped. "Uh, must have gotten there from training. I did do some fire push-ups and I did land of the ground... Must have come from there. Ha ha , well catch you later, katara."

"No, hold on!" Katara sighed. She grabbed his sleeve and noticed something strange from the rubble. "There's something on this bigger piece. A inscription. Wait, this looks like it came from the room! The inscription room! "

"Well, I did walk through there earlier with Suki and Sokka to discuss battle plans so--"

"Hold the bending for a moment," Katara kept questioning. "I thought you were training all day, Zuko... Leaving anything out?"

"You can ask your brother and his girlfriend, I'm not lying!" Zuko explained rationally. "Can't someone training take a break or not?"

Katara sighed .He was right. She had done the same earlier. She shouldn't judge him so quickly. I mean the Western Air Temple was in Fire Nation territory. Any one could have left soot there...

"I'm sorry Zuko..." Katara sighed. "I was judging you before I had all the evidence in."

"No problem..." Zuko mumbled as if almost sadden she didn't ask him the truth. "Good day, katara..."

Katara watched him walk away. She heard it in his voice a depressed feeling. "Okay, Zuko?"

"What's really on your mind right now Katara?" Zuko spoke with a gentle heart. "Anything dying to know?"

Katara thought a moment. Yes, the inscription was driving her crazy. But she couldn't dwell on it. And the images flashing in her mind about her and Zuko were making her nuts. "Yes..." Katara whispered into the air, yet loud enough for Zuko to hear. "I do want to know something. " Then genius struck her. "Maybe you can help me!"

Katara grabbed Zuko's wrist. And before a tiny blush could form on his face, Zuko was half-way to the temple. Katara was anxious to get Zuko's opinion on the mark on the wall. Katara smiled, hoping that Zuko could shed some light on the problem. She pushed his face toward the mark on the wall. "Tell me what you think this is!!" katara smiled, hoping he could say what it was. Was it a love heart from a fire-bender and an air-bender from long ago? Or was it an ancient circle dwelling from fire-benders meaning capture?

"uh..."Zuko blushing noticing what exactly Katara had shown him... "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes yes yes!" Katara nodded with glee. "It's been killing me all day trying to figure it out. What is it?"

"Someone put the initials of two people together, hoping they would grow to love each other..."Zuko admitted, with a smile, hoping Katara would catch on. He started to blush again "You see I think that the one person who made this loves someone, but the other person does not realize it."

"Hm..."Katara pondered. "Looking at this mark...It's a K and an S..."

"What?!" Zuko enraged. "An S?!"

"Yes..."katara gasped. "What else could it be? I mean it is backwards..."

"It's A Z!!" Zuko shouted. " Z Z Z Z Z Z Z !!"

Katara gasped for air. "Oh...yeah that makes much more sense..." Katara nodded. "I wonder who these two people are then..."

Zuko, lost for words, fell onto the inscription room's floor. "Why me..." he whined. Katara noticed him and stood back a little further to try and figure out why Zuko was so enraged. Was he offended that I couldn't figure it out? Katara thought.

"Zuko, I'm sorry I couldn't figure it out as fast as you, but you don't have to get so angry...it's nothing important..." Katara smiled.

"Nothing important..."Zuko repeated. "Not important..." He paused for a moment and stood up. He walked to where his back was to Katara. "Say our names, then read the initials again..."

" Katara...Zuko...K...Z..." Katara thought...

_oh..._

_My..._

"oh..."Katara gasped. "Oh oh oh oh oh...uh...I...M-m...hm..." Katara also fell onto the floor. " I see your anger now..."

"Not anger Katara..."Zuko laughed. "I was beginning to wonder when you'd see it..."

Katara started gulping for air. She was unable to think. The inscription was solved. Yet the images were _**not**_ going to leave now.

_Katara and Zuko..._

"You see... ever since I first met you I knew there was something between us..."Zuko whispered in an angel-like voice. "However, our places in the world were not together yet. I was still lost, while you were already helping the Avatar. And while this was happening, I fell for the wrong girl... My previous girlfriend, Mai... And while I still do have feelings for her and want to be with her... You were training today and I watched you..."

Katara felt a tingly feeling go up and down her spine. She was frozen, unable to even think of something. Her heart was beating uncontrollably. He thoughts couldn't keep up with her. _Yes, I knew I felt someone watching me... _It was the only think she could think of. She let Zuko continue.

"I remember back when I first saw you, standing so small in you south pole village..." Zuko smiled. "I was a different person than. A confused boy. But now, I can feel something growing. I am a humbled man now... You have something inside you that I...I love to see everyday. You have compassion and feeling and I love to see that grow. I couldn't help but feel a little bitter, knowing you were... you are in love with Aang. I know that my destiny is with Mai and I do love her, but I just wanted some part of me to remember how I felt about you... I love you, Katara. And I want to remember how I felt later on..."

Katara, trying to resist the tears from forming in her eyes, turned her back from Zuko. She couldn't face to see him in his moment of openness. She had to try and think of something to do. Yes, she loved Aang, but what Zuko had said about wanting to remember...

"I know what you mean..."she spoke in a velvet voice. "I do love Aang... but you...there is something that I feel... as if I need to have some connection toward you... But yet...as you said, our destinies have already been written...I am to be with Aang in the end. And you with Mai... It would be hopeless to start something when something bigger than our attraction to each other is pulling us apart...and yet..." Katara turned and faced him. She walked to be in front of him. His eyes were closed.

Katara flash backed to when she was trapped in Ba Sing Se with Zuko. She could remember talking about their mothers. How much he opened up. How confused and conflicted with feelings he was. And how she actually did care. She raised her hand to touch his scar, just as she did in the dungeon. Zuko raised his eyes open, just to look into Katara's eyes. They were filled with passion and kindness and love. Katara stared into the fire-bending man's eyes and saw humility, power, sadness, and a yearning for love.

"Zuko..." Katara whispered. She gently lifted the back of her heels up to reach his face. She placed her lips carefully onto his left cheek. His lips, just merely from shock, formed a crooked smile. Katara placed herself back on the ground. She bite her lip and waited to get a reaction from Zuko. His breathing seemed to quiet down, turning into a rustic sound.

"Katara..." Zuko spoke, to Katara what seemed like hours. "You are a wise, caring, and loving young woman..." Zuko opened his eyes and gave a simple smile. "Thank you..."

And Zuko leaned his neck down from the stature he stood at to be at the same level as Katara's face. He placed his giant firing hand onto the back of her hair. He took in a giant breath and placed his gentle, hot, lips onto Katara's calm, cool, lips.

Katara was unable to think. She was intoxicated. He seemed to breath fire into her soul. Katara returned his kiss with one of her own. Zuko felt a cooling feeling reining into his veins. He put his hands around her waist as she placed both her arms around his neck. Zuko brought Katara closer to his chest. Katara pressed herself onto his body.

Zuko stopped. He removed his hands from her waist and turned around. "I'm sorry..." he whispered as his voice was a little edgy. "We both are in love with someone else... This wouldn't be right for them..."

Katara sighed. She continued to stare at her feet. "Yes you're right...but Zuko..." Katara walked around him so she could stare into his eyes. "Zuko..." she whispered. "We only have a few more days or weeks until Aang goes to fight the Fire Lord...Then we might never see each other again...Shouldn't...shouldn't we do something for ourselves then since we don't have much time?"

Zuko stared back into her eyes, grinned and grabbed her face. He placed his lips back onto hers. They just stood there, silent in a single kissing moment. Then as if it was come and go, they both looked away from each other.

Katara walked away toward the group's campfire. Zuko walked into the direction of the temple.

Katara sat on one of the logs around the fire. Toph was lying on the ground with her face on in the dirt. Her hair was sprawled in every direction. She lifted herself up with earthbending. She cracked her neck and strolled over to Katara. She sat next to her.

"Katara..." Toph whispered. She looked away at first then stared at Katara. She opened her arms. Katara figured it out and gave her a hug. "Yeah... destiny sure has a funny way of ruining someone's love life... " Toph hugged her even tighter.

"Toph...it's okay... at least we had this time together... me and Zuko...we were never meant to be together..." Katara smiled. "I'm just glad we had this time together. It was exactly what we both needed."

Zuko was sitting by the river. He looked at his reflection in the river. "Mai..." was all he said. And he smiled. "Mai, I love you..."

Katara was running around the temple when she saw Aang. He was sitting inside the inscription room, pushing his staff into the wall. "Man! Why does A have to be so hard?!" he shouted.

"Aang..." Katara whispered. Aang turned around, with a blush on his face. Katara walked up to him and placed her lips on his. "Aang, I love you..."

**I hope you enjoyed this oneshot. PLEASE REVIEW!!**

xoxo

Blackpolish


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